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English Literature in the Old English and
Middle English
Periods (from the
5
th
century to 1400)
Major points
?
A Brief Introduction to English
Literature
?
English Literature in the Old English
and Middle English periods (500-1400)
?
English
Literature
in
the
Old
English
or
Anglo-Saxon
period
(from
the
5
th
century to 1066)
?
English
Literature
in
the
Middle
English
or
Anglo-Norman
period
(1066-1400)
I. A
Brief Introduction to English Literature
?
English
Literature in the Old English and Middle English
periods (from
the 5th century to
1400
)
English literature in
the Old English or Anglo-Saxon period (from the
5
th
century to
1066)
English literature in
the Middle English or Anglo-Norman period
(1066-1400)
?
English literature in the Pre-
Elizabethan Period (from 1400 to 1557)
?
English
Literature in the Elizabethan period (1558-1625)
English literature in the first stage
(1557-1579)
English literature in the
second stage (1580-1599)
English
literature in the third stage (1599-1625)
?
English
Literature in the Middle and Late 17th Century
Metaphysical poetry
Other major poets: John Milton, John
Dryden and John Bunyan
?
English Literature in the 18th Century
Poetry, prose and fiction in the early
18th century
Fiction in the middle and late 18th
century
Drama in the
18th century
Neo-classicism
and Pre-Romanticism in the middle and late 18th
century
?
English
Literature in the 19th Century
English literature in the early 19th
century
English
literature in the mid-19th century
English literature in the late 19th
century
?
English Literature in the 20th Century
English poetry, fiction and drama
before 1945
English poetry,
fiction and drama since 1945
II. English Literature in the Old
English and Middle English Periods
(500-1400)
Major points:
?
?
?
?
?
?
Oral literature
Folk
literature and religious literature
Alliterative epic and
Beowulf
Romances
and
Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight
William Langland and
Piers the Plouman
Geoffrey Chaucer and
The
Canterbury Tales
Britons /
Romans / Normans:
?
The
Stonehenge
(1400-1800
BC) as
one
sign
of
the British
civilization,
one
of
the oldest
in the world.
?
The Celts as the first inhabitants of
the British Isles.
?
The Britons, one of the Celtic tribes,
came to the British Isles in the 5th century
BC,
staying
for
some
500
years,
and
called
the
place
“Britain”
which
means
“the land of the
Britons.”
?
The Roman soldiers of Julius Caesar
conquered the Britons in about 55 BC.
?
The Anglo-
Saxons, one the Germanic tribes, conquered the
Britons and Romans
in
the
5th
century
and
stayed
until
1066.
Anglo-Saxon
became
English
and
“Britain” became
“England.”
?
The French-speaking Normans conquered
England in 1066 and the Old English
period
(Anglo-Saxon
period)
ended
and
the
Middle
English
period
(Anglo-Norman period) began.
A.
English
Literature
in
the
Old
English
or
Anglo-Saxon
period
(500-1066)
Major points:
?
Beowulf
?
Major features
Beowulf
The earliest
literature of the English people, like that of
many other peoples, originated from
the
collective efforts of the people, usually when
they were working or resting from their labors.
Stories
based
on
history
or
legend
or
contemporary
events
were
narrated
orally
and
often
sung
during festivities and other occasions,
chiefly for entertainment. Some of the more
interesting of
these narratives were
passed from mouth to mouth and from generation to
generation, and as they
were
told
and
sung
by
different
singers
at
different
times,
additions
were
made
to
them
or
deletions were taken from
them.
The most monumental
literary work in English literature in the Old
English or Anglo-Saxon
period (from the
5
th
century to 1066) is
Beowulf
. It is the only
important single poem handed down
in
the written form and is preserved intact. Probably
existing in oral form in the 6th century, it is
believed to have been written in the
7th or 8th century although its manuscript extant
now can be
dated back to the 10th
century. Composed of
3183 lines of
alliterative verse (
Alliteration, also
known as “head rhyme” or
“initial rhyme,” is a verse form which
means the repetition of the
same
sounds,
usu.
initial
consonants
of
words
or
of
stressed
syllables
in
any
sequence
of
neighboring words, e.g.
“lord of
language.”
Alliterative
verse
is
a
verse
in which
the
chief
principle of repetition is alliteration
rather than rhyme
), it is the longest
of the early English
poems preserved
today.
Beowulf
is an epic,
telling the story of Beowulf, a national hero, who
went to fight against
the enemies in
defense of his country. (
An epic is a
long narrative poem celebrating the great
deeds of one or more legendary heroes
in a grand ceremonious style, who was usu.
protected
or descended from gods,
performed supernatural exploits in battle or in
marvelous voyages
in saving or founding
a nation
). Its major themes, among
others, are religious belief, heroism,
and honor, as can be seen in the
following remarks:
“
It is
better for a man to avenge his friend than to
refresh his sorrow. As we must all expect
to leave out life on this earth, we
must earn some renown, if we can, before death;
daring is the
thing for a fighting man
to be remembered by
”
(LL133-1388). (Beowulf
’
s
words)
“
Our
strife
had
ended
at
its
very
beginning
if
God
had
not
saved
me
”
(LL1658-1659)
(Hrothgar
’
s
words)
“
Every
man
’
s action was under the
sway of God
’
s
judgment
”
(LL2858-2859) (the
narrator
’
s
words)
“Death
is better for any
earl than an existence of
disgrace!
”
(LL2890-2891)
(Wiglaf
’
s words)
Major Features of English literature in
the Old English period:
1) Most of
English literature in the Old English period
existed in oral form;
2) The most
important literary form of English literature in
the Old English period is the epic;
3)
Alliteration is the basic verse form in English
literature in the Old English period;
4) The only work in written form in the
Old English period is
Beowulf
, whose major feature
is the
use of alliteration.
B.
English
Literature
in
the
Middle
English
or
Anglo-Norman
period
(1066-1400)
Major points:
?
Folk literature
?
Religious
literature
?
Romance (the bulk of literature of this
period) and
Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight
?
William Langland (1332-1400) and
Piers the Plouman
?
Geoffrey
Chaucer (1340-1400) and
The Canterbury
Tales
Romance
Definition:
A romance is a
verse narrative that sings of knightly adventures
or other heroic deeds, and
usu.
emphasizes the chivalric love of the Middle Ages
Europe.
Themes:
“The
Matter
of
Britain:”
Romances
which
deal
with
the
Arthurian
legend
(6th
century,
a
semi-
legendary
king
of
the
Britons
and
national
hero
who
may
originally
have
been
some
Romano-British war leader in the west
of England called
Arthurus
,
but is represented as having
united the
British tribes against the invading Saxons, and as
having been the champion not only of
his people but of Christendom as well.)
“The
Matter
of
France:”
Romances
which
tell
stories
concerning
Charlemagne
(747
-814,
king of
the Franks and Christian emperor of the west) and
his knights
“The
Matter
of
Rose:”
Romances
which
are
tales
of
antiquity
from
the
Trojan
War
(the
ten-year
war
waged against Troy by the Greeks in order to get
back King Menelaus’ wife, Helen,
who
had been abducted by Paris, king of Troy) to the
feats of Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.)
Form:
Although most
of the English romances of this period were
metrical, meter and rhyme being
adopted
from French poetry to take the place of
alliteration in Anglo-Saxon poetry, in the early
14th century, however, there was a
curious revival of alliterative verse in a number
of romances
written in the West Midland
dialect of Middle English.
Representative works:
Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight
Anonymously
written
in
1360-1370,
Sir
Gawain
and
the
Green
Knight
is
the
most
outstanding
single
romance
on
the
Arthurian
legend.
Consisting
of
four
sections,
it
is
mainly
concerned
with
the
tests
of
faith,
courage
and
purity,
and
the
human
weakness
for
self-preservation ---- all of them are
traits of chivalric romances.
C. English Literature in the Second
Half of the 14th Century
Background
Although romances were still written in
the second half of the 14th century to celebrate
the
knightly
deeds
of
the
past,
chivalry
was
rapidly
losing
its
glamour.
The
early
flowering
of
the
Renaissance, which began first in Italy
in the 14th century, soon spread to France and by
the end
of the 14th century the
writings of (Francesco Petrarca) Petrarch
(1304-74, poet and scholar) and
(Giovanni) Boccaccio (1313-75, writer)
already started to exert their influence on many
English
writers. Superstition prevalent
through the Middle Ages was beginning to lose
ground in the minds
of the people with
the gradual dawning of science in Europe. The
second half of the 14th century
marked
the deterioration and decline of feudalism in
England and the great economic and political
changes
had
their
impact
on
literature,
and
English
literature
flourished
after
three
centuries
of
comparative lull.
Major writers and their
works
1. John Wycliff (1324?-1384):
John
Wycliff
has
made
some
contribution
to
English
literature
by
taking
the
responsibility for the earliest
translation of the entire
Bible
from Latin into
English.
2. John Gower (1330-1405):
John
Gower
is
known
for
three
works
written
in
three
different
languages:
“Speculum
Meditantis”
or
“Mirour
de
l’Omme”
in
French
(“The
Mirror
of
Mankind:”
a
religious
allegory
in
three
parts
on
the
sins
of
man)
(1376-
1379);
“V
ox
Clamantis”
in
Latin
(“The
Voice
of
Clamants:”
a
poem
attacking
the
peasants’
rising
of
1381)
(c.
1382);
and
“Confessio Amantis” in English (“A
Lover’s Confession:” a long poem
illustrating the seven
deadly sins) (1390-1393).
3.
William Langland (1332-1400):
William
Langland is
well remembered for his work,
Piers the Plouman
, (which he
began
probably in 1362 and was
preoccupied in his last twenty years) which can be
divided into two
parts: the vision of
Piers the Plouman and the vision of Do-wel, Do-
bet, and Do-
best. “Piers the
Plouman” contains two themes: the
exposure of the corruption of the Court and the
Church (the
ruling class) and the
expression of the misery of the exploited and
oppressed (the ruled class),
and thus
holds up a mirror to England in Langland’s
time.
Geoffrey
Chaucer (1340-1400)
:
Life career:
Geoffrey
Chaucer was the greatest writer in the second half
the 14th century. Born of a
wine-
merchant’s
family,
he
served
as
a
court
page
in
1357.
He
was
in
the
English
army
fighting
in
France
in
1359,
and
after
being
taken
prisoner,
he
was
released
and
returned
to
England
in
1360.
He
took
education
at
the
Inner
Temple
where
he
received
training
for
a
career at
the court from 1361 to 1367. He entered the
service of King Edward III and went to
the
European
Continent
nine
times
on
some
diplomatic
errands
from
1367
to
1377.
He
journeyed
to
Genoa
and
Florence
in
Italy
from
December
to
May
1373
and
was
made
Controller of Customs and Subsidy of
Wools, Skins and Hides in the port of London in
1374.
He was appointed Controller of
the Petty Customs on Wines and other merchandise
in 1382
and became one of the justices
of the peace for Kent in 1385 and was elected M.
P. for Kent in
1386. He died in 1400
and was buried in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster
Abbey. Chaucer
served
in
his
lifetime
in
a
great
variety
of
occupations,
working
as
courtier,
office-holder,
soldier, ambassador and legislator. He
had broad and intimate acquaintance with people
high
and low in all walks of life and
knew well the whole social life of his time. His
varied career
had its impact on his
writing, which is quite evident in his masterwork
The Canterbury Tales
.
Literary career
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